Once Upon a Contest showcases award-winning children’s books by Cape Ann artists and writers. Based on the Cape Ann Reads 2017 Gulliver, Honor and Medal Books, this group show was made possible with support from the Bruce J Anderson Foundation | The Boston Fund. Acclaimed children’s book author-illustrators Pat Lowery Collins, Giles Laroche and Anna Vojtech joined librarians and Bob Ritchie, Dogtown Books proprietor, on the 9 member jury panel. The Tree in Dock Square by Jean Woodbury and illustrated by Bonnie L. Sylvester is the first Cape Ann Reads Medal book. Once Upon a Contest opens on December 18, 2018. Following its launch at the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the exhibition will tour the four communities of Cape Ann throughout 2019 into the start of 2020. Programming at each venue detailed below. email capeannreads2016@gmail.com

As part of the original creative design and concept for the Once Upon a Contest travel exhibition, Bonnie L. Sylvester was invited to create a contemporary public mural in three parts on the walls of the 'Greenhead Room' gallery at the Cape Ann Museum for the launch of the travel exhibition. Following two years steeped in preparing final illustrations in watercolor for the Cape Ann Reads Medal Book, The Tree in Dock Square by Jean Woodbury and illustrated by Sylvester, the two week process for this Cape Ann tableau involved sketching key elements and applying layers of custom mixed paint for a walk-in installation effect. After the close of the show the wall walls will be painted over. The temporary wall mural is a first for the artist, and the museum.

Special February School Vacation children's book master workshops with Cape Ann Reads authors and artists: Feb 19 - 22

Tuesday February 19: Fun with Figures and Find Franklin the Cat: illustration in marker and ink with Leslie Galacar, illustrator of “Where in the World is Catherine Abigail" written by Michael LaPenna

Thursday February 21: Create nocturnal paintings on colored paper like “Henrietta’s Moon Egg,” a Cape Ann Reads Gulliver book written and illustrated by Claire Wyzenbeek

Friday February 22: Cape Ann houses of illustration – create paper collage with Alexia Parker. Bring a picture of your house. Parker's illustrated projects include Cape Ann Reads Gulliver Books “Bike’s Big Adventure” and “Pumpkin Carving”; also Crabs the Lobster, a volume of Poetry, and a historic coloring book for the town of Essex.

Also on view: selections from Schooner written and illustrated by Pat Lowery Collins